Sheikh Din Muhammad
Entrepreneur / Author
Also known as Sake Dean Mahomed or Mahomet.
Muhammad was born in 1759 in Patna, then part of the Bengal Presidency. He served in the army of the East India Company as a trainee surgeon. In 1784 Muhammad travelled to Ireland with Captain Godfrey Evan Baker. In 1794 Muhammad was the first Indian to publish a book in English called ‘The Travels of Dean Mahomet’.
In 1810 Muhammad moved to London where he opened the first Asian owned Indian restaurant. Unfortunately the venture failed shortly afterwards. In 1814 Muhammad moved to Brighton where he opened the first commercial shampooing vapour (Indian) masseuse baths in England, The treatment was said to relieve rheumatism, stiff joints and aches and pains. His business became very popular and Muhammad became the shampooing surgeon to King George IV and William IV. He went on to write ‘Cases Cured by Sake Dean Mahomet Shampooing Surgeon and Inventor of the Indian Medicated Vapour and Sea-Water Bath in 1820 and Shampooing or Benefits Resulting from the use of the Indian medicated vapour bath’ in 1822.
Val McCalla
Founder
McCalla founded The Voice newspaper, he was born in Kingston Jamaica. In 1943 he travelled to the UK as a teenager. In 1959 McCalla joined the RAF hoping to become a pilot. He was unfortunately unable to progress due to having a perforated eardrum. McCalla founded The Voice newspaper in 1982, which he launched at the Notting Hill Carnival.
Mary Seacole
Entrepreneur/nurse/healer
Seacole is famous for helping sick and wounded soldiers during the Crimean war, she was an accomplished herbalist and a business woman. Seacole was born in Kingston Jamaica in 1805 to a Scottish mother and Jamaican father.
She travelled to the war office in London to offer her nursing services during the Crimean War (1853 to 1856) but was turned down, she was also refused funding to travel to Crimea. Seacole didn't let that stop her. She funded her own travel to the Crimea taking where she built and ran her boarding house called The British Hotel. She was dedicated to helping the sick and wounded and was affectionately called 'Mother Seacole'. After the war Seacole returned to London destitute. Soldiers who she’d treated and those who knew of her work organised a charity event to raise money on her behalf.
Seacole wrote a book about her life in 1857 called The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands.
Marcus Garvey
Entrepreneur/Campaigner / Activist
Garvey studied and lived in the UK during his lifetime. His impact was huge, he’s best known for promoting self empowerment and economic freedom for peoples of African descent.
He was born in 1887 in St Ann’s Bay Jamaica, he travelled to the UK to study law and philosophy at Birbeck college, he then went back to Jamaica.
Garvey was politically active, he was President General of The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). He was also President and a Director of Black Star Line, a shipping and passenger line with its own fleet of ships The fleet operated between the USA and the West Indies between 1919 and 1922.
Garvey published newspapers and founded The Peoples Political Party,Jamaica’s first modern political party. Garvey travelled back to the UK living the last five years of his life in London.
Ignatius Sancho
Entrepreneur/Author / Composer
Sancho was born in 1729 on a slave ship where he was orphaned. Sancho was taken to England.and was taught to read by the family who bought him.
Sanchos worked as a butler in Greenwich London for prominent families. In 1774 Sancho opened a greengrocer in Mayfair. He became known for his letter writings calling for the abolition of slavery, many were published after his death.
As he was financially independent Sancho qualified to vote he is said to be the first person of African origin to vote in Britain.
Dadabhai Naoroji
Entrepreneur/Educator / Politician
Naoroji was born in 1825 in Bombay India, he was an educator, author, trader and the first Indian MP in the UK - he was a Liberal MP in Finsbury Central between 1892 and 1895.
Naoroji is also known for The Drain theory and poverty theory which examined the drain of wealth from India to England during Britain’s colonial rule. In his book Poverty and the Un-British Rule India, Naoroji spoke about the wealth which benefited the UK. A loss which would not be returned. He is remembered as the ‘Grand Old Man of Indian Nationalism’.
Elijah McCoy
Inventor
McCoy studied in the UK, he was an inventor and engineer. McCoy was born in 1844 in Canada, his parents were escaped slaves (they’d fled from America to Canada). At the age of 15 McCoy was sent to Scotland UK to initially study for an apprenticeship, he went on to become a certified mechanical engineer before returning to America. He achieved 57 patents, mainly in the field of lubrication of steam engines.
The phrase 'The Real McCoy means that whatever's being referred to is the real thing. One of the stories behind the origins of the phrase is Elijah McCoy's invention the oil-drip cup which railroad engineers used to lubricate steam trains. Engineer’s would specifically ask for the 'real McCoy system' to avoid receiving copies.